Belswick 28 - junior mercenaries

Last time in Belswick, the players fought off assassins at the wedding of lord Haine Kerjules the Hedgehog and Olga the Widow - not succeeding in saving either of them (although in Olga's case, she'd been dead for a few years already). Now under the control of Haine's son Silas, fiefs Crossroads and Culfield are preparing to join the war of wider Belswick against southern Arrayne.

update: now with loot / gifts

 

CHARACTERS

• Guy Montfaulc, diviner wizard and occasional haver of psionic blackouts (player sadly not present this session)
  
• Shams Metalgrog, dwarf and arcane knight looking for reasons to stay on the surface and not join her race's Downward Crusade
• Lomin Mor, elf rogue, disgraced former noble and longtime impersonator of the Lady Olga of Culfield after she passed away, to avoid a useless nephew inheriting the fief (leaves the group at least temporarily this session)
• Barak Sapat-Gromesh, holy warrior of the ...god? saint? Gromesh, and scout for Tyaak's Free Lances of the Rock (new character of Lomin's player)
  
• Pyrrha 'little red', wild girl of the small remnant of people that still follow the old ways. Big rages, summons flint weapons from the ground and flings dangerous magic around when "playing with people"
• Ungulu the Vulture, birdling cleric of the Order of Light and member of the Inquisition. Very interested in heresy perpetrated by the new religious order of "Zulin" in Arrayne
  

THIS SESSION

Young hedgehogling Silas is a different ruler than his father, and the PCs find themselves out of favor. The old Kerjules' house wizard Guy is summarily dismissed after failing to save his lord, Lomin Mor no longer has his lady's ear (and wig, and dress), and it seems no-one has any more ties to Crossroads.

After the old lord and lady's funeral, they decide to head south to follow up on an invitation from Tyaak the eagle, a noble son setting up his own mercenary band to fight in the war against Arrayne.

Before leaving, some last affairs to take care of. 

• Shams gets their former party member Abbott Tilbord to draw them a map of all the Du'van tombs in the area, and write a separate scroll with all the information the group has gathered on the old snake people. 
• Lomin says farewell to the group, telling them that he has personal affairs to take care of in Arrayne. He then talks to Bishop Urael - his brother - and asks him to go back to Arrayne together. Urael agrees, but will need to make a detour to the north first. Lomin then has the sword of assassin St. Etienne de Cours identified by Guy: it's a magic sword that bites extra hard when facing werewolves. Lomin - actually Azrael d'Arendil - gives the sword to Shams, and gifts Guy with a scroll of the Knock spell.
  
• Pyrrha puts her request to Silaw Kerjules: she was sent to inherit the estate of her brother Mike, which has reverted back to Silas after Mike's death. Silas will consider the request, if Pyrrha will spy on her companions and try to determine if they were connected to his father's death.

 

The trip is fairly quick and uneventful:

• in barony Walden, one meeting with a bog hag just east of Crossroads, who trades Ungulu one happy memory for a secret of a person he can name. He describes his summoning spirits of the damned to lay waste to assassins at the wedding, and she's surprised to discover that he actually considers that a happy memory! In return...well, Ungulu just walks off and says he'll be in touch.
• in barony Corsewall, one ambush by three giant spiders that quickly get turned into meat for dinner; Ungulu and Pyrrha whip out spices and pans and turn the ghastly things into a proper meal.
• in barony Nether Stowey, one encounter with celebrating monks of the Circle of Thorns, celebrating nature's bounty with all kinds of meals. Pyrrha gives them a bit of the spider meat and they bless her with one use of Inspiration.
• in barony Ballumbie, one encounter with a trio of bog mummies bearing the holy symbol of the Order of St Vivione the healer; they appear to warn people away from a plague that has vanished over 80 years ago. The group easily outpace them.
• in barony Ballumbie, one charge by an enormous boar bearing an even bigger Half-Orc - the group get ready to roll initiative, when we introduce Lomin's new character: Barak Sarpat-Gromesh, a scout of Tyaak's and a holy warrior of Gromesh. Ungulu immediately wants to know - he is talking about the Authority, yes? But of course! 

Barak takes the group up to the Eagle's Eyrie: a steep climb of stairs and slopes going up maybe a kilometer from the valley below to a rock outcrop bearing five tall towers. You can take the place by force, if you can fly or have a lot of people to spare for the inevitable bombardment on the stairs.

Inside the castle:

• Tyaak welcomes the party - he actually knows all of them: Shams and Guy met him in the mildly heretical Devil's Ring tournament half a year ago, and young Pyrrha (about 16) and devout Ungulu participated, what, 10 years back?
  
  
• Tyaak explains that his mercenary troup, the Eagle Lances of the Rock, will undertake fast raids behind enemy lines rather than slogging it out with the Arraynians.
  
  
• The Eagle Lances have had a couple of setbacks: surprisingly well-coordinated tactics without flags or horns in a confrontation outside Lissecourt to the south, and a band of negotiators with the mountain giants getting eaten while negotiating a back passage into Arrayne.
  
  
• The PCs decide to join the Eagle Lances, stipulating that they do have other obligations. As long as those don't collide, they'll work for Tyaak to the best of their ability. Barak will join them as scout on their first mission: arrange safe passage for the Eagle Lances of the Rock from the ice giants of the southern Snake Mountains!
  
  
• Pay: 4 gp / week, plus 25% of all ransoms and loot that the party acquires during their adventures. Ungulu waves this pay for an as of yet unspecified future favor.

 

LOOT AND GIFTS

• Pyrrha: Inspiration (advantage on one d20 roll) for celebrating the feast of nature with monks of the Circle of Thorns
• Guy: scroll with the Knock spell
• Shams: +1 longsword, +2d8 damage to werewolves, belonged to Ser Etienne de Cours